Deck 14: The Changing Climate

Question 1

Requirements for an ice age on Earth include:

A) larger obliquity angle.
B) a weaker Sun.
C) smaller obliquity angle.
D) continents located at high latitudes.
E) continents located at low latitudes.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

In comparison to the global average, warming in the polar regions could be:

A) about the same.
B) two to three times greater.
C) ten times greater.
D) about 50% lower.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which of the following is NOT a projected effect of global warming for the coming century?

A) increased risk of landslides and mudslides
B) a decrease in the areas affected by drought
C) increase in intense hurricane activity
D) increased risk of avalanches

Answer 3

B

Question 4

The large plates that make up the outer portion of the earth move approximately a few_______ per year.

A) kilometers
B) meters
C) centimeters
D) micrometers
E) millimeters

Question 5

Which of the following is a possible consequence of a greenhouse warming?

A) a decrease in global mean precipitation
B) sea- level rise
C) increase in sea ice
D) lower frequency of hurricanes

Question 6

If the tilt of the earth's axis changes, how does this affect the temperature change across the seasons?

A) less tilt, smaller seasonal change
B) more tilt, smaller seasonal change
C) less tilt, larger seasonal change
D) no consistent relation exists

Question 7

Oxygen- isotope analysis is used on all of the following sources of proxy data EXCEPT:

A) glacial ice.
B) tree rings.
C) sea floor sediments.
D) coral reefs.

Question 8

When did the supercontinent Pangaea exist?

A) during the Pleistocene
B) during the Paleozoic
C) during the Holocene
D) during the Cenozoic

Question 9

You find an old tree stump in a forest and would like to use it for tree- ring analysis, but you don't know when the tree was cut down. The best way to establish dates for the analysis is to:

A) compare patterns in the tree rings to ring chronologies sampled from nearby trees on known dates.
B) assign small rings to years of known droughts.
C) estimate the age of the tree stump based on the level of decay it has experienced.
D) submit the tree stump to carbon- 14 dating analysis.

Question 10

At what star does the North Pole point at the opposite extreme from its current position?

A) Vega
B) Milky Way
C) Polaris
D) Alpha Centuri

Question 11

Large amounts of long- stored organic material will begin to decay and release carbon dioxide when extensive areas of:

A) agriculture experience longer growing seasons.
B) Arctic sea ice melts.
C) forest grow in new regions.
D) permafrost thaw.

Question 12

Oxygen- isotope analysis:

A) is very simple.
B) relies on the fact that ¹⁶O evaporates from the ocean more readily than ¹⁸O.
C) has been shown to be of little or no use in the study of past climatic changes.
D) cannot be carried out on ice cores or sea floor sediments, but works well for tree ring analysis.

Question 13

In addition to sea level rise, oceans respond to increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by:

A) becoming more alkaline.
B) contracting in volume.
C) becoming increasingly acidic.
D) increasing salinity.

Question 14

The climate system consists of the:

A) hydrosphere.
B) atmosphere.
C) cryosphere.
D) just the cryosphere and atmosphere.
E) the cryosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and solid Earth.

Question 15

One source of oxygen isotope measurements used for climate reconstruction come from:

A) air pollution.
B) cores from old trees.
C) packrat middens.
D) sea floor sediments.

Question 16

Plate tectonics (continental drift):

A) may be a key factor in explaining the cooling trend since the 1940s.
B) may help us better understand the cause of the Ice Age.
C) is probably responsible for some climatic changes that occur on a time scale of thousands of years.

Question 17

Compared to climate changes due to plate tectonics and astronomical causes, the changes due to volcanic eruptions are:

A) longer.
B) very short.
C) much larger.
D) of equal duration.

Question 18

If a volcanic eruption produces a climate impact that lasts for a year or longer, the most likely culprit is:

A) ash suspended in the atmosphere.
B) a high volume of debris ejected during the eruption.
C) the state of the climate at the time of the eruption.
D) aerosols produced by sulfur dioxide emitted from the volcano.

Question 19

Methane is naturally produced by bacteria in_________ environments.

A) high pressure
B) anaerobic
C) very cold
D) isotopic

Question 20

Astronomical causes of climate change occur with cycles of:

A) 100 million yrs.
B) 20,000 yrs.
C) 1 - 5 million yrs.
D) 450,000 yrs.
E) 26,000 - 100,000 yrs.

Question 21

What term is used to describe the strategy used by scientists who are trying to predict the differing outcomes for a wide range of possible assumptions?

A) varied input
B) scenarios
C) altering assumptions
D) ensemble forecasting

Question 22

The term anaerobic means:

A) under extreme pressure.
B) highly acidic.
C) without motion.
D) without air (or oxygen).

Question 23

Which of the following is NOT associated with the Milankovitch astronomical theory of climate change?

A) precession
B) lunar phases
C) obliquity
D) eccentricity

Question 24

Proxy data:

A) come quality- controlled instrument records.
B) can only extend the temperature record back an additional 500 years.
C) provide climate data representing times when instruments were not available to measure them.
D) are difficult to find because they occur only in very limited areas.

Question 25

The atmosphere's CO₂ content is rising. Which one of the following is a significant contributor to this increase?

A) aerosol spray cans
B) deforestation
C) rice paddies
D) refrigerant leakage

Question 26

Which of the following is a trace greenhouse gas?

A) oxygen
B) nitrous oxide
C) carbon
D) carbon monoxide

Question 27

Oxygen isotope analysis measures the:

A) rate of oxygen depletion.
B) amount of radioactivity due to oxygen.
C) total oxygen present.
D) oxygen content of sediment.
E) proportions of 2 different types of oxygen atoms.

Question 28

The eccentricity portion of Milankovitch's astronomical theory refers to:

A) changes in the shape of Earth's orbit.
B) changes in the rate of Earth's rotation.
C) changes in the tilt of Earth's axis.
D) variations in the energy emitted by the Sun.
E) the unpredictability of Earth's weather.

Question 29

The combustion of coal and oil is a major source of which greenhouse gas?

A) carbon dioxide
B) methane
C) CFCs
D) ozone

Question 30

Which association is NOT correct?

A) obliquity - 41,000 years
B) precession - 13,000 years
C) eccentricity - 100,000 years

Question 31

The length of time that a volcanic eruption impacts the climate is largely determined by:

A) how much ash is emitted.
B) the amount of water evaporated.
C) how much gas is emitted.
D) whether the ash or gas reaches the stratosphere.
E) the explosive force of the eruption.

Question 32

It is likely that an increase in global temperature would result in an increase in cloud cover. Which of the following statements BEST describes the total impact of additional clouds on the Earth system?

A) Clouds provide an exclusively positive- feedback response to warming.
B) Clouds provide an exclusively negative- feedback response to warming.
C) Clouds provide both positive- feedback and negative- feedback responses to warming.
D) Clouds provide neither positive- feedback nor negative feedback responses to warming.

Question 33

Variations in the shape of the earth's orbit:

A) have a cycle of about 100,000 years.
B) are related to changes in sunspot activity on the surface of the Sun.
C) will eventually lead to the earth having a perfectly circular orbit.
D) have a cycle of about three million years.

Question 34

Sea floor sediments provide useful climate data because they contain:

A) meteorite debris.
B) remains of living organisms.
C) material from Earth's mantle.
D) evidence of plate tectonics.

Question 35

In what way were humans influencing climate prior to the Industrial Revolution?

A) gathering wood for individual cooking fires
B) hunting and gathering excessively
C) alteration of ground cover for grazing and agriculture
D) releasing CO₂ by burning large quantities of coal

Question 36

What is the current axial tilt of the earth?

A) 45 degrees
B) 21.5 degrees
C) 23.5 degrees
D) 24 degrees

Question 37

Which of the following is NOT a greenhouse gas?

A) CFCs
B) argon
C) carbon dioxide
D) methane

Question 38

Warming temperatures melt ice cover, exposing a darker surface that absorbs more solar radiation. In response, the air warms even further. This is an example of:

A) a negative feedback mechanism.
B) a variable- feedback mechanism.
C) a positive feedback mechanism.
D) a stable- feedback mechanism.

Question 39

We have not yet established the impact of solar variability on the Earth's climate system because:

A) we have no way of measuring solar variability directly.
B) most scientists now agree that solar output is constant and does not vary.
C) satellites have not yet been around long enough to provide a data set of adequate length.
D) it is not a legitimate enough theory to gain much attention from the scientific community.

Question 40

The part of a plant that is best preserved and can most easily be used for climate reconstruction is:

A) the root structure.
B) the flower.
C) the leaf vein.
D) the pollen.

Question 41

A major part of the greenhouse effect is that it involves the absorption of the earth's outgoing radiation by atmospheric gases. Along with carbon dioxide, what atmospheric component is largely responsible for this process?

A) nitrogen
B) oxygen
C) water vapor
D) nitrous oxide

Question 42

Volcanic eruptions can act as agents for climate change since they:

A) reduce the solar energy at Earth's surface.
B) increase the numbers of cyclones.
C) increase the amount of evaporation.
D) release large amounts of heat.
E) cause small changes in the earth's tilt.

Question 43

Measured variations in the Sun's emission of radiation and observed changes in the earth's climate:

A) are well understood.
B) happen on a 22- year cycle.
C) happen on an 11- year cycle.
D) have not been clearly linked.

Question 44

Which of these is the most important cause of the increase in atmospheric CO₂?

A) burning of coal and petroleum
B) wetlands and swamps
C) decaying vegetation
D) deforestation
E) cattle

Question 45

Which one of the following statements is NOT related to the astronomical theory of climatic change?

A) distance variations between the earth and the Sun
B) variations in solar output
C) variations in the shape of the earth's orbit
D) changes in the angle that the earth's axis makes with the plane of the ecliptic
E) wobbling of the earth's axis

Question 46

The cryosphere consists of:

A) ice and snow.
B) plants and animals.
C) rock and soil.
D) air.
E) Antarctica and New Zealand.

Question 47

The person who first developed and strongly advocated the astronomical theory was:

A) Randall Cerveny.
B) Thomas Schmidlin.
C) Milutin Milankovitch.
D) Stanley Changnon.
E) Edward Tarbuck.

Question 48

Sulfur dioxide aerosols:

A) can serve as condensation nuclei.
B) do not exist in reality.
C) are rarely emitted during volcanic eruptions.
D) lower cloud albedo.

Question 49

Scientists expect climate change to:

A) cause every place on the planet to warm evenly and consistently.
B) cause each year to be consecutively warmer than the one before.
C) cause some areas on the planet to cool dramatically.
D) cause each decade to be warmer than the previous one.

Question 50

In addition to their role in depleting stratospheric ozone, ________are also effective greenhouse gases.

A) nitrous oxides
B) volatile organic compounds
C) primary pollutants
D) cholorofluorocarbons

Question 51

The volcano that caused "the year without a summer" was:

A) Mt. St. Helens.
B) Fuji.
C) Krakatoa.
D) Tambora.
E) Mt. Pinatubo.

Question 52

The sunspots produce huge ejections of particles that:

A) rapidly increase the temperature at the surface of Earth.
B) produce auroras in Earth's atmosphere.
C) do not generally interact with the Earth system.
D) accelerate the melting of ice sheets.

Question 53

The acronym GCM stands for:

A) general circulation model.
B) general climatological map.
C) global climate model.
D) greater circulation mode.

Question 54

The group assembled by the World Meteorological Organization for the purpose of assessing the known information related to human- induced climate change is known as:

A) The Climate Change Consortium.
B) The Human Induced Climate Change Panel.
C) The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
D) The Expert Panel on Climate Change.

Question 55

Sunspot activity tends to follow a cycle of roughly:

A) 30 years.
B) 500 years.
C) 11 years.
D) 100 years.
E) 26,000 years.

Question 56

The Milankovitch cycles cannot entirely explain recent global warming trends because:

A) they were disproved in the 1980s.
B) they address cycles in precipitation only.
C) no data have been found to support their influence on Earth's climate.
D) they operate on a very long time scale and cannot address shorter term cycles.

Question 57

What was the name of the volcano that erupted in 1991 in the Phillipines and lowered global temperatures by 0.5^○C?

A) El Chichon
B) Tambora
C) Pinatubo
D) Mt. St. Helens

Question 58

What is the primary goal of a paleoclimatologist?

A) to study the impacts of volcanic eruptions on climate
B) to prove that climate change caused the dinosaur mass extinction
C) to reconstruct past climates
D) to find explanations for current global climate change

Question 59

Studies have shown that the sea level:

A) has not changed measurably over the last century.
B) should drop over the next 100 years.
C) has risen about 25 centimeters since 1870.
D) should not change significantly over the next 100 years.

Question 60

Which regions on Earth have displayed the greatest temperature anomalies in 2010 (based on the 1951- 1980 average)?

A) the high latitudes
B) the oceans
C) the subtropics
D) All regions have warmed equally.

Question 61

Why is the idea of plate tectonics only considered for climate changes that occur over very long periods?

Question 62

List two ways in which humans likely caused climate changes before the time of the industrial revolution.

Question 63

What property of glacial ice helps climatologists to reconstruct the CO₂ concentrations of the atmosphere during the past?

A) The ratio of oxygen isotopes in the ice.
B) The contents of the air bubbles trapped in the ice.
C) The amount of ¹⁶O in the water.
D) The amount of volcanic ash frozen in the ice.

Question 64

The______ the tilt of the earth, the smaller the temperature difference between summer and winter.

Question 65

List four greenhouse gases.

Question 66

Who is credited with developing the modern theory that variations in the earth's orbit influence climate change?

Question 67

Which of the following is NOT a part of the climate system?

A) hydrosphere
B) climosphere
C) biosphere
D) lithosphere
E) atmosphere

Question 68

Why are the climate forecasts of GCMs not to be fully trusted?

A) They are still not capable of simulating anything but air temperature.
B) Underlying assumptions influence the outcome and may not be totally accurate.
C) Researchers often tweak the outcome to match political agendas.
D) The physics involved are still not fully understood.

Question 69

Which of the following gases may be contributing to a greenhouse warming?

A) hydrogen
B) oxygen
C) nitrogen
D) methane
E) carbon monoxide

Question 70

Global warming is obviously associated with temperature increases. List two additional effects that global warming may have upon Earth's climate.

Question 71

The smallest temperature increases due to global warming are expected in the middle latitudes.

Question 72

Past climate data measured with instruments extends back about:

A) 200 yrs.
B) 500 yrs.
C) 100 yrs.
D) 30 yrs.

Question 73

A positive- feedback mechanism tends to produce results that are opposite of the initial change and tend to offset it.

Question 74

________was the volcano that erupted in 1815 and is credited with causing "the year without a summer".

Question 75

Corals can provide proxy data through the__________ that they extract from seawater while growing.

A) carbon dioxide
B) calcium carbonate
C) aluminum
D) methane

Question 76

List four kinds of evidence that can provide data about past climates.

Question 77

The combined influence of CFCs, methane and nitrous oxide as greenhouse gases is insignificant.

Question 78

The most likely explanation for evidence of glacial activity in places such as Africa and Australia is:

A) volcanic activity.
B) ozone depletion.
C) global warming.
D) plate tectonics.
E) oxygen isotope changes.

Question 79

Describe two examples of how the warmer temperatures due to increased CO₂ in the atmosphere may lead to positive feedback effects.

Question 80

The type of aerosol that warms the atmosphere by absorbing solar radiation and increasing the surface albedo of snow and ice is called:

A) black carbon.
B) smoke particulate.
C) nitrous oxide.
D) dark matter.